A famous Iranian filmmaker, Dariush Mehrjui, 84, and his wife, Vahideh Mohammadifar, were stabbed to death in their villa in the Meshkindasht municipality of Karaj, in Alborz province, west of Tehran, local media reported last night.
Police arrived at the scene alerted by Mehrjui's daughter, who found the bodies. Rumors are circulating on social media that they were beheaded, but there is no official confirmation.
Alborz Police Chief Hamid Hadavand said evidence indicates that the murder was carried out by unidentified persons, with knife wounds to the neck and other parts of the body. Prior to the incident, Mohammadifar, a writer, had written on social media that the couple had been threatened with a knife by a non-Iranian individual, presumably an Afghan national.
Amehrjui, one of the founders of the Iranian New Wave of the early 70s, has made films that have won awards at Iranian and international festivals. The Islamic Republic banned some of its films, including its last film in 2019, "Laminar," which was finally released on screens, with some parts censored.
Mehrjui had said in an interview that the strongest impact on him, when he was a child, was Vittorio De Sica's 'Bicycle Thieves. Then The Cow, 1969, The Postman, 1972. his acclaimed film The Circle, 1974, and his 1983 French documentary were successfully screened at international film festivals, including the Venice International Film Festival, and won rare reviews and awards.
His other famous films include The Pear Tree, Hamoon, The Tenants, Sara, Pari, Leila, Mom's Guest, and Santouri. The latter, which chronicled the life of a young drug addict, was never allowed to be screened.
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